Intelligence Gathering refers to the legal/ethical process of reading readily available clues and heeding all red flags to better provide context, background and potentially helpful information that will assist in the pursuit of a set objective(s). Good examples of intelligence gatherers that we encounter in our daily lives would include journalists, diplomats, marketers, sales people, strategists, analysts, lawyers, police/detectives/investigators etc. If these people perform their intelligence gathering role well, they will be able to predict, on a balance of best probability, what will happen in the future. Organizations that act on intelligence in good time, adjusting planning, strategy & policy accordingly will have the edge over those who don’t!

Spying, on the other hand, refers to the uncovering of specifically hidden or protected information/data. For example, hackers are spies, as are military or government agents whose sole objective is to unearth what other governments would prefer to be kept hidden; a professional business spy engages in damaging/duplicitous activity, for financial advantage.

It is clear from these definitions that nuance and grey areas will abound in the world of business intelligence. In the absence of clear legal or ethical guidance, a simple test to discover whether a specific activity is intelligence gathering or spying, would be to imagine one’s own reaction if the same was done to us by someone else. The more cloak and dagger/scary the operation, the more probable is the reality that one is actually spying…How guilty you would feel if caught would be another indicator.   

My repeated contention in my book Corporate Intelligence Awareness, Securing the Competitive Edge, is that there is usually so much intelligence available, due to carelessness, ignorance, naiveté, over abundance of communication etc, the need for spying is almost superfluous.